The Grammy nominated rock band NEEDTOBREATHE recently released their stunning and dynamic 9th studio album: CAVES. The album is 11 songs long and includes songs featuring Judah and the Lion (the band they are touring with now), Old Dominion, Carly Pearce, and Foy Vance. CAVES really seems to be getting back to the sound of some of my Favorite NEEDTOBREATHE albums like: “The Reckoning” and “H A R D L O V E.” NEEDTOBREATHE has been a band for a long time and has included many different genres and feels to their songs. CAVES combines many great elements of rock and simple slow songs from their previous albums along with some amazing brand new sounds.
The first song on the album (one of my favorites) “The Cave ‘’ has brilliant dynamics and a cool sound. The lyrics create a powerful image of “Crawling out through the mouth of a cave” or stepping out into the world after time to meditate. The way the first verses of the song drop from low to high give the song a powerful pulsing feel and the guitar breaks and dynamics offer a mysterious, and striking sound. The drums and guitar combine beautifully to give this song an incredible “classic rock” feel. In the final chorus of the song the lead singer Bear Rinhart’s vocals are echoed up by the rest of the band and the song closes with an epic bass guitar ending carrying the powerful rock feel all the way to the end of the song.
Songs like “How wonderful we are” slow things down with a slower but still incredible sound. “How wonderful we are” as lead singer Bear Rinhart states in a radio interview with Lightning 100, is “a grown up love song.” This song is about people in a relationship helping each other out and realizing how they work well together. This song’s first verses give the classic “NEEDTOBREATHE sound” and background vocals in the chorus sound really lovely. While this song is slower, the drums and guitar help keep a cool rhythm and move the song along. Overall this song is great!
NEEDTOBREATHE wrote the song “Dreams’’ with Judah and the Lion. Dreams proclaims the band members’ excitement and thankfulness for getting to do what they do. The song is upbeat and combines elements of both bands. The song has crisp verses and a powerful chorus proclaiming “Fools like us are only here to prove, you make dreams come true.” I especially like the ending to this song where the vocals echo each other and the song overall just sounds great. The vocals and upbeat sound of the song never cease to make me smile.
Another song that I particularly enjoy is “You Forgive someone.” It is up beat and I think it has a particularly cool drum beat and rhythm that carries you through the song. This song is about letting go of anger and forgiving others and how that will, as the song states, set you free. The chorus of the song powerfully states “when you forgive someone you set yourself free” and the bridge says “All that’s heavy on my soul, lay it down and let it go”. Another thing I like about this song is the addition of the harmonica near the end of the song (after the bridge). I think this gives it a really fun sound and reminds me a lot of their album “The Reckoning.’’ Additionally this song has some great background vocals throughout the chorus.
